Hey all. I just bought a 1957 Cub Lo Boy. It has a 60” belly mower. When I run the mower on flat ground everything seems fine. However as soon as I try to mow a hill the tractor loses power quickly and I get a lot of smoke coming from the oil fill tube. Any suggestions on what to do to help with the power loss?

Do a full soup to nuts tune up , adjust the valves, clean the air filter and the tube that goes from the block to the air filter , I have the same loboy with a 60" Woods the mower is a lot for the Loboy almost too much,

Hi, Welcome to the website. A good tune up might help, like was said above. The ignition points are important for a Cub engine, they have to be good, which means flat and shiny surfaces. They can be filed, or replace them with new points if they look burned a lot. They have to be set to the right gap, for it to run good also. The condenser, distributor cap, rotor, ignition wires, and spark plugs should all be inspected, and replaced if not good. Old, fouled spark plugs can make the power low too. It probably has a Battery Ignition unit, if so, the spark advance has to be working right, and not frozen from nobody lubing it, so the engine will have full power. Lube it by removing the rotor, and applying a few drops of light motor oil to the felt in the end of the shaft the rotor goes on. Then put the rotor on, and the rotor should turn clockwise and counterclockwise a few degrees.

The ignition coil has to be good, and putting out a strong blue spark. If it is weak, the engine power could be less than good. Test it to see if it is putting out a blue spark.

The timing being set right is important, so it will have good power. Set it with a timing light, using the pointer and marks at the left front of the engine. The timing advance system can be checked when you use the timing light, to see if it works right.

The smoke coming out the oil filler tube when working sounds like it has worn, or stuck piston rings. You could do a compression test, like was said above, and see what the readings are. Remember to open the throttle fully when doing the test, so it can get air. The Cub service manual says they have 120 lbs compression. That probably would be for a new or really good engine. Then you could try putting an oil additive in the engine oil and running it, warming it up, and working it for several hours of use, and see if the smoking improves. The guys on here like SeaFoam. I have used Rislone before and it helped much.

Below is the 1957 LoBoy owner's manual. The experts on here recommend that people with one of them read it. It has much info about operation, maintenance, and lubrication. There is a table of contents on page 1. Page 42 shows working on the points.

I would check or change all the oils before using it much. A Cub or LoBoy has 3 separate gear cases, with 3 separate oil levels to check in the rear, the transmission, and 2 final drives. The transmissions commonly get water in them, from rain, or condensation inside the case. The trans holds 3 1/2 pints of oil, the filler plug is on top of the trans, to the rear of the shifter. The level plug is low on the left side of the trans, fill it only to there. The drain plug is on the bottom of the trans, visible from under the platform. The final drive oil plugs can be seen from the rear of the tractor. Fill them only to the plug holes. There is info in the owner's manual.